Conventionally, some print systems each of which comprises an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or the like, and a printing apparatus such as a printer, a hybrid machine, or the like have a test print mechanism for spooling rasterized data in a hard disk or the like of the printing apparatus and executing a test print process using the spooled data.
Such print system can change setups such as designation of a finishing function including a sort method, staple, and the like, the number of sets of copies to be printed, a paper source, and the like for a print job, data of which has been spooled, after the test print process.
However, in such print system, whether or not the test print function or the setup change function after the test print process is available depends on the software environment (e.g., whether or not the printing apparatus supports the test print function), and the hardware environment of the printing apparatus such as the presence/absence of a hard disk for spooling data, the memory size, and the like.
After the test print process, the number of sets of copies, finishing function, and paper source can be changed. However, since the spooled data is raster data, setup changes that require to re-render the raster data itself, e.g., a change in output appearance of, e.g., an N-up print mode, a change in additional information such as a watermark or the like, cannot be made. Note that the N-up print function lays out and prints images for N pages created by, e.g., an application on one surface of a single sheet by reducing them as needed.
After the test print process, if the user proceeds with the print process without changing any setups, he or she obtains print results more than the number of sets of copies he or she wants to obtain by the number of test prints.